By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The final all-county wrestling dual meet of the season took place Wednesday when Carmel traveled to Hamilton Southeastern to face off against the Royals.
Those two teams will see each other again in the sectional, of course. But before that, they went head to head in a dual that came down to the last match before the Greyhounds won 39-31. Nayl Sbay won the 145-pound match with a second-period pin to clinch the match for Carmel.
More important than the competition itself, the meet gave the wrestling community a chance to help out one of its own. Southeastern asked for donations to the family of Harrison Rich, a Royals sophomore wrestler who suffered a severe C5 and C6 spinal cord injury during a meet in December. Rich is currently at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis and soon will be transferred to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago to continue his rehabilitation.
During the meet, several Southeastern junior varsity wrestlers went through the crowd asking for cash donations. And the crowd delivered, donating a total of $3,138.66. The Royals wrestling program will be purchasing gift cards for the Rich family to help offset costs as they travel back and forth to Chicago.
“Always great to see the community band together,” said HSE coach Nick Brobst. “The wrestling community is fantastic, like no other. We got notifications from some fantastic people from across the globe, even a U.S. World Team member, Kyle Dake, sent a message to us to send to Harrison. That’s something that’s special about this sport.”
Brobst said that even rival schools come together “when one of our own is hurt, and I think that’s something that Harrison will have to rely on over the next couple years” as he continues his battle.
Anyone that would like to donate to the Rich family can do so at this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-harrison-rich-family.
SEVEN WINS EACH
Both schools won seven matches in the dual. Carmel won the first two, pins from 152-pounder Eitan Halevi and Nate Powell at 160, giving the ‘Hounds an early 12-0 advantage.
Southeastern won the next five bouts to take a 25-12 lead. Ryan Cast picked up a major decision at 170, then Jacob Schneider received a forfeit at 182 pounds. Max Broom (at 195) and Charlie Irish (at 220) each got pins, then Dom Burgett toughed out a 3-1 decision at 285.
Carmel picked up four wins in a row to take back the lead, going up 33-25. That included three wins by pin, coming from Tamir Halevi at 106 pounds, Caleb Mattingly at 120 and Isaac Ward at 126. Gavin Thompson took the 113-pound match in a back-and-forth, 13-10 major decision.
The Royals got back into the meet with two decision wins. Riley Fredericksen got a 5-2 decision victory at 132 pounds, then Zach Lang came from behind at 138, scoring near-fall points at the end to get an 8-5 decision win.
With that, Southeastern cut Carmel’s lead to 33-31, making the 145-pound bout a winner-take-all match. But Sbay took a 4-1 lead into the second period, where he got the fall.
“I thought it was a great dual,” said Greyhounds assistant coach Josh Franklin. (Head coach Ed Pendoski was absent.) “We wrestled them earlier this year and it was a great dual. Definitely, they’re tough competitors. I think our kids are very tough competitors.”
Franklin also told the Carmel wrestlers to have fun, saying that if “we have fun, good things happen.”
“I felt like we won all the matches we expected to win,” said Brobst. “There were about four swing matches that they’re pretty good, we’re pretty good, could have gone either way. Credit to them, they took all of them and that’s what cost us the dual.”
Both the Greyhounds and the Royals finished their regular seasons with this meet. They will now prepare for the post-season, with wrestlers from both teams likely to see each other again when they compete at the Frankfort sectional on Jan. 29.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” said Franklin. “We’ll take it week by week.”
The Royals have the same plans as well.
“We’re going to recover a little bit, take care of some injuries, stretch out, have some fun, remind kids why we’re here, to enjoy the sport,” said Brobst.
CARMEL 39, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 31
Meet started at 152 pounds
152: Eitan Halevi (C) def. Nick Jakubs (HSE) by fall
160: Nate Powell (C) def. Deshawn Ternior (HSE) by fall
170: Ryan Cast (HSE) def. Matthew Green (C) by major decision, 13-4
182: Jacob Schneider (HSE) won by forfeit
195: Max Broom (HSE) def. CJ Meyer (C) by fall
220: Charlie Irish (HSE) def. Seth Richardson (C) by fall
285: Dom Burgett (HSE) def. Jack Milligan (C) by decision, 3-1
106: Tamir Halevi (C) def. Aiden Smalley (HSE) by fall
113: Gavin Thompson (C) def. Nick Anderson (HSE) by decision, 13-10
120: Caleb Mattingly (C) def. Ethan Berens (HSE) by fall
126: Isaac Ward (C) def. Blake Alvorado (HSE) by fall
132: Riley Fredericksen (HSE) def. Embry Hardi (C) by decision, 5-2
138: Zach Lang (HSE) def. Luke Farling (C) by decision, 8-5
145: Nayl Sbay (C) def. Ryan Hartig (HSE) by fall